April 7.2014 – The Story Behind “I Drive Your Truck” by Lee Brice

I Drive Your Truck won the Academy Of Country Music’s Song of the Year honors last night, (4/6/14)an award that
goes to the songwriters. Here is the incredible story behind the song…

This is the third single from American Country music singer Lee Brice’s sophomore album, Hard 2 Love. Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Jimmy Yeary penned the ballad and it was Harrington who originally came up with the song’s concept after hearing a radio interview with a grieving family. Brice explained on his website: “One of the writers heard an interview with a couple whose son was killed a month after joining the military. The interviewer asked how in the world they dealt with the pain. They said they would drive his truck around and somehow they felt he was there with them, and that pulled them through.”

Brice said that as soon he heard the song, he knew he had to cut it. “I went around town and listened to a lot of songs,” he explained, “and one of the publishers said, ‘I know you’re looking for some lighter stuff, but I’ve got a song that we feel is the song of the year.’ They played it, and I started losing it in front of everybody. It just killed me. It made me think about my granddaddy, and everybody I’d lost.”

The song’s music video is a family affair. “It became a personal song to me the very first time that I heard it, and I thought about my granddaddy, and what I would like to do with the video,” Brice told Billboard magazine. “Since it was so personal to me, I asked my brother to be the actual actor, the ‘star’ of the video. He did an amazing job on it, and I have a feeling that people are just going to be really moved by it.”

Brice recalled the recording of the cut to reporters at a media event. “I don’t honestly know why I have my hands on that song, because it seems to me Garth Brooks could have got his hands on it,” he said. “Anybody in the world would have recorded that song. I somehow got my hands on it first. The first time I heard it, it really broke me down, and I had to listen to it over and over again. When I went into the studio, I remembered how (the demo) made me feel, so when I was singing it, I wanted to make sure I didn’t screw that up … that I made that feeling come across with my recording of it the same as the demo. The songwriters, when they recorded that song, they did it right. I wanted to make sure I honored them and was putting forth the kind of emotions they wanted to come across.”

The song topped the Billboard Country singles chart. “I was immediately drawn to this song, so I’m not surprised that fans have connected to it like they have,” responded Brice to the news that it had reached #1. “Since we put it out as a single, fans from across the country have shared their own truck stories through just about any way they can – calling into the radio, on tour at meet-and-greet, Twitter, Facebook, emails and texts. I’m just glad I got to be a part of this special song.”

Once the song started climbing the charts, Harrington realized that she’d forgotten the name of the soldier that the tune memorialized. However, the publishers unearthed the original National Public Radio for a Memorial Day interview in 2011, which featured Paul Monti, the father of Medal of Honor recipient Jared Monti, who was killed in battle in Afghanistan in 2006. Paul explained how he kept the memory of his departed son fresh. “I drive his truck,” he said.

At an event held at the Country Music Association building in Nashville to honor the song’s writers, Yeary recalled that, “Connie absolutely cried like a baby at every point in writing this song.” When she didn’t cry, he continued, they knew the lyrics weren’t up to scratch.

Brice recalled at the same event that he had approached publisher Rusty Gaston in search of some lighter tunes to complete his album. After hearing them, he said he was ready to go home when Gaston asked if he could play him one other song, which of course was this one.

This won Song of the Year at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards. It was Jessi Alexander’s first CMA success as a writer, though her husband, Jon Randall, was awarded the same honor in 2005 with Bill Anderson for “Whiskey Lullaby.” She told reporters backstage that now, “we can have his and her CMA Awards at the house.”

When Curb first released this song to radio, Jessi Alexander started getting negative feedback from other songwriters. “I got a lot of crap for it in the beginning, when people saw the title, ‘I Drive Your Truck,'” she recalled to Billboard magazine. “I had friends like, ‘Oh, come on, Jessi. Are you writing truck songs now, too?’ Then, of course, when people hear the song, they know it’s so much more than that. But I think we all, as writers, are feeling a little boxed in by the topics.”

LYRICS: Written by Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Jimmy Yeary
Eighty-Nine Cents in the ash tray
Half empty bottle of Gatorade rolling in the floorboard
That dirty Braves cap on the dash
Dog tags hangin’ from the rear view
Old Skoal can, and cowboy boots and a Go Army Shirt folded in the back
This thing burns gas like crazy, but that’s alright
People got their ways of coping
Oh, and I’ve got mine

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
Til all the pain’s a cloud of dust
Yeah, sometimes I drive your truck

I leave that radio playing
That same ole country station where ya left it
Yeah, man I crank it up
And you’d probably punch my arm right now
If you saw this tear rollin’ down on my face
Hey, man I’m tryin’ to be tough
And momma asked me this morning
If I’d been by your grave
But that flag and stone ain’t where I feel you anyway

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
Til all the pain’s a cloud of dust
Yeah, sometimes I drive your truck

I’ve cussed, I’ve prayed, I’ve said goodbye
Shook my fist and asked God why
These days when I’m missing you this much

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
Til all the pain’s a cloud of dust
Yeah, sometimes, brother sometimes

I drive your truck
I drive your truck
I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind
I drive your truck

Robynn Jaymes has spent her whole life in radio… 30 years!! And almost half of them have been at Star Country. Originally from Cincinnati, Robynn came to the area as a Liberty University student. Along with all things country music, Robynn is a big fan of Football!—The Virginia Tech Hokies, The Washington Redskins and, of course, the Cincinnati Bengals. And also, “I’m addicted to the Weather Channel,” she says. Right now, Robynn is a big fan if the music coming from Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Kenny Chesney! Robynn is also a winner of the Billboard Air Personality of the Year award.
Hear all new Warm & Fuzzies with Robynn M-F at 11:45AM!

Robynn Jaymes

Robynn has spent her whole life in radio… 30 years!! And almost half of them have been at Star Country. Orginally from Cincinnati, Robynn came to the area as a Liberty University student. Along with all things country music, Robynn is a big fan of Football!—The Virginia Tech Hokies, The Washington Redskins and, of course, the Cincinnati Bengals. And also, “I’m addicted to the Weather Channel,” she says. Right now, Robynn is a big fan if the music coming from Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Kenny Chesney! Robynn is also a winner of the Billboard Air Personality of the Year award.